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Analysts familiar with the first two versions of this current book, formerly referred to as the Glossary, will be surprised at the changes in scope and format of Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts. With the appearance of this volume, the book has truly become something more like an encyclopedia than a simple glossary. Perhaps most important is the user-friendly conceptualization of the entries. The analyst whose interest in the definitions is primarily clinical will find a range of theoretical schools represented. Readers who want to use the book as the starting point for a bibliographic trail will be thankful for the literature citations and the expanded system of cross-referencing that appear at the end of most entries. Psychoanalytic trainees will find a format compatible with the historically based structure of much psychoanalytic teaching: most of the longer entries give the historical line of development of the term under consideration.
Although the editors acknowledge a "primarily Freudian" orientation, the list of almost 200 contributors includes many with backgrounds other than "traditional." And entries on non-traditional theories do not suffer from extreme concision: "Kleinian Theory" gets six pages, and 22 citations are given; "Self Psychology" is similarly represented. More significant than mere space allowance are the care and thoroughness evident in the research. The section on Winnicott's theory, for example, contains a brief biography of the British psychoanalyst, a description of his position within the British schools, and crisp yet complete summaries of his major concepts, including: good-enough-mother, holding, playing, potential space, squiggle game, and transitional object and phenomenon.
Readers may find some of the editor's choices jarring. For instance, even though the book does not in any way aim to serve as a